It's greed that drives the economic engines of America these days ... unrestrained greed - that with a pen-stroke, wipes away pensions and benefits ... or foolishly puts in amateur refs for NFL football games because, in spite of 9 billion in revenue and everyone prospering, NFL ownership smells a chance to make even more by taking away ever-more from their first-line refs.

This isn't Capitalism.

It's greed.

It's insanity (which, of course, is what greed is).

Capitalism has always favored the wealthy, of course (every economic engine of the world does, including Socialism and Communism). But as the United States grew, folks like Teddy Roosevelt csaw the need for restraint, and if the owners of capital couldn't help themselves, then government, of the people, by the people and for the people, would.

Our best years have always been times of great fairness - when strong government restrained the greed of the Robber Barons.

Both Republican and Democratic Presidents have acted to support The People, and The People have prospered.

But it unravelled with Reagan, and it's been going crazy ever since.

Like a pack of hungry wolves, the owners of capital (they're not the producers, just the owners) have smelled blood, and have gone after its workers, their unions, their wages and benefits ... and, now, are mounting a full-scale attack on Social Security, Medicare, and so on - all in an effort to "win the game."

If this is Capitalism, then we're all doomed.

But whose to say what Capitalism is?

There is no set-in-stone definition of Capitalism - it's an evolving tool that at its best, with good partnership between workers, owners and government, provides living wages and benefits and a reliable degree of social security.

Capitalism has always been a partnership between the three entities common to economy: owners, workers and government.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

A petition to sign up in support of Jerusalem as capital of the State of Israel, because the Bible says so ... Christianity.com ...

Here's my note in reply:

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Oh please, this is just baloney, and bad Bible as well.

Israel, as a religious/political entity, hasn't existed since Babylon tore down the walls in 568 BCE.

The political State of Israel has existed only since 1948.

It has no more claim to Jerusalem than anyone else.

Jerusalem, in fact, should be an international city, shared by all of Abraham's children.

Come on gang, you're mouthing the stuff of radical Zionism, and crazy dispensationalism, philosophies denied and repudiated by many Jews and Christians.

If you truly claim to follow Jesus who said of the temple: it'll soon be done! and overturned its tables, then you can no longer abide by these foolish claims and political ambitions.

The State of Israel is no more or less than any other political entity anywhere. To claim divine dispensation for its political ambitions is a violation of Scripture and the world-wide love of God for all the nations.

Israel's crimes, funded by the US, against Palestinians have intensified over the last ten years, including a systematic effort to rid the country of Arab Christians.

Right now, it seems the State of Israel is increasingly under the grip of radical Orthodoxy - a group of people and ideas no different than any other radical group hiding behind the skirts of God.

In Christ, for Christ and with Christ,

Rev. Tom Eggebeen

Los Angeles, CA.

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On Sep 25, 2012, at 6:57 AM, Christianity.com Presents wrote:

Over 3,000 years ago, Jerusalem was recognized as the capital of the Jewish people.

Yet today, the United States government, in defiance of a law passed in 1995, refuses to

recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the nation of Israel. Every other nation in the world is

allowed to designate their own capital…except for the Jewish state.

Stand with us, the Jerusalem Prayer Team, as we launch the Jerusalem DC (David’s Capital)

Campaign to call on the American people to recognize Jerusalem - the entire, undivided Holy City -

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Just saw a slide show of rarely seen photos of JFK, Jackie, and their family.

They were a family of great wealth.

And often burdened by the temptations and problems of great wealth.

But they possessed an America Quality - that of public compassion.

Sadly, I've seen the wealthy of America succumb to the greatest temptation of wealth - to look upon others with contempt.

It's this very attitude that prompts Jesus to say, "It's easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a person of wealth to enter the Kingdom of God" (not a place, but a way of life).

How striking might it have been if Romney had stood before his wealthy cohorts and said to them, "We didn't build it. All of America built it. We're the luckiest people in the world, and we're fools to think that we did this by ourselves. So I stand before you today, asking you to contribute to my campaign, and I ask you to welcome all of America with compassion; I ask you to step up to the plate and pay your fair share of taxes, and even more - because the Bible says: 'to whom much has been given, much is required.'"

But he didn't. Instead, he portrayed Americans as a lazy and dependent - the attitude of contempt.

With his wealthy folks, Romney raised a few more million, but he lost the heart of many. His obvious contempt for so many Americans - does he really believe this, or was he saying only what his audience wanted? In either case, he's wrong.

If Romney believes this, he's not fit for the Oval Office.

If he says such things only to please his monied friends, he's not fit for the Oval Office, either.

It's a sad day for the GOP as it has hitched its wagon to the wealthy - and not the great wealthy, but the greedy wealthy.

We have much to learn from the old and true wealth of America - families, surely not pure, but with a sense of compassion and duty - compassion for all, and a duty to make this a better nation.

The huge debt we owe to the world was put into high gear by Reagan - when the GOP told us that we didn't need to pay taxes, and then began to borrow madly to be sure Americans had plenty of cake to eat. We paid no attention; now suddenly, the GOP gets all uppity and holy about this business. No wonder they didn't invite any of Bush's people to their convention.The GOP wants us to believe that others are the cause of the problem. And, yes, it's a real problem, and won't go away until all Americans, especially the wealthy, step up to the plate via taxes and vow to pay for America. The GOP has tried to give us the world on the cheap; it can't be done, and now the GOP is rushing about madly to blame others for its own foolish monetary policies.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

GOP complains that Obama had his chance to fix things ... in reality, to fix their mistakes.

It has taken us decades to get here, beginning with Ronald Reagan's pillaging of the American fortune, shifting moneys to the wealthy while telling the poor to go to hell, gutting unions, killing regulatory agencies and laws, spending on overseas' wars, covert interference all around the world to further the interests of Big Biz.

The only exception (sort of) to this slide into idiocy was George H - a moderate Republican.

Clinton's fiscal responsibility gave us a surplus - imagine that.

And then W.

And it's been hell to pay ever since.

The t-bags and their congressional toadies were determined to undermine every effort by the President to address the problems created by the Bush/Cheney cabal, and the Republican hijacking of the American Way.

Because the "problems" are not problems for the Koch Machine.

The problems plaguing the nation right now play into the hands of the global market and the continuing transfer of wealth from the pockets of the many to the hands of the few.

Do the Koch Brothers care about America?

Hell no.

They care about their corporations; this is their world, this is their nation, this is their life, their treasure, and "where there treasure is, so is their heart."

The GOP is full of lies and deceit, having driven into isolation all remaining moderate Republicans.

It's a terrible day for the nation as it faces a choice so dramatic in consequences; consequences that will chart the future for decades.

I hope and pray that we'll make the right decision, and for everything I know, and with everything I've learned over the years, Obama offers the greater hope for a better future.